If you are going to have the ground sheet sewn in, I would suggest also seeing if the mesh could be sewn up the tarp a few inches rather than at the edge. As I said before, and others here, when the water rolls off of the tarp, it will then follow along the mesh since the mesh is sewn to the edge of the tarp. If your ground sheet is sewn in, then the water will also follow the mesh right onto the top of the ground sheet/floor. Then you are in a bathtub with water in it... However, if you can get the mesh sewn a few inches above the edge of the tarp, this would probably be a better idea...

However, as has also been mentioned, by doing this, one can't swap the ground sheet out if it were to develop holes, or just wanted a bigger size. At least not as easily as if it weren't sewn in...

I never tried it either, but I would imagine that using a ground sheet under the mesh would be fine at keeping the mud/debris off of the mesh, but then water can potentially pool under you on top of the groundsheet. Maybe though if that piece of ground sheet were narrow it would be less likely to collect water though... Like I said, I haven't tried it, but I don't feel too confident in it personally.

Anyway, I may be able to place an order for another Hexamid Solo Plus tarp soon, however, after this I will save up for an inner net tent. Again, this will have it's own set of limitations, but I think that I will be able to deal with them a little better and will just be happier overall with it. As I said, I loved the Hexamid... It is a great tent!

The old practice with gc's is to place it under a tent, when it rains or looks like rain, you place it inside the tent, hopefully it isn't loaded with pitch. My understanding with the mesh/netting floor is any water that runs down the edges of a shelter, will soak into the ground. Even with it inside, on top of the netting, you may still need to curl up the edges of the gc to prevent water from going over the top of it, that is how I use my TT, floorless Squall and I see Henry has modified his shelters by bringing the netting in, away from the edge of the shelter so water will drip off the edge of the shelter fabric and less so onto the netting. There may be times where one has to take active observation and action if needed, of what is going on during a rain.Duane

Duane, I used the solo plus ground sheet inside my Hexamid, on top of the mesh. At each corner, as well as at the middle of each side, the ground sheet can be clipped up to the tarp. By doing this, a bathtub will be formed, and while water will run down the mesh, it will not reach the inside of the bathtub floor since the bathtub is on top of the mesh. However, if the floor is sewn in, the mesh is sewn to the top of the bathtub, which means that water traveling along the mesh can then go right into the bathtub floor.

As far as using ground sheets with tents, I always made sure to cut the ground sheet a little smaller than the actual tent floor. I always used the ground sheet under the tent, even in rain and never experienced any problems.

Chad, I've done the fold the edges back with the gc still under the tent, did not want to do any damage to the bottom of the tent and save a little wear and tear. I'd read a few weeks back here, that some said if not a good shelter placement, that the bathtub floor did not form/lay right. The principle sounds good though. I'm hoping my setup works, but I hardly get rained on out here in the Sierra, but I think in a deluge, more protection the better. Felt sorry about 8 years ago for people in the Muir Pass area where they got inches and inches of hail for a few hours. It did not look pretty from my campsite further north in the Evolution Valley.Duane

As I said before, we've used a homemade footprint below the netting of the Hexamid. We do this when the ground is muddy or recently grazed by sheep and goats (don't want that mess getting in the netting). We use it in addition to the groundsheet inside. It is cut smaller than the groundsheet and any water on the netting reaches the ground before the footprint. We've had no problem with it, and it has always kept the bottom section of netting dry. Of course, if you ended up with water running under the shelter, the netting would then get wet, but that comes down to site selection, and anyway, you'd be no worse off than without the footprint.The downside is that you're adding weight.

You are right, if you sew the netting to the top of GC, the water may run into GC and collect there.

But what I thought is to sew netting still to the top, but leave some extra height of the netting for two purposes:0) to solve the problem you've mentioned. When the netting height is double than actual needed, it will sag in the middle. So all the water will drop into ground. I do also considering the modification you've talked about - to sew the netting not to the edge. However this may make it necessary to seal that additional seam, which will result in added weight.1) If I wish to setup the tent not pitched to ground but at some height (for better ventilation for example), the sewn in netting seems a constraining factor. So having a little extra does make sense.

What is interesting is how all these modification will affect total weight of the tent.

This thread is on point for me. I almost pulled the trigger on a cuben pyramid with a sewn-in netting floor. I was convinced by others in that thread that a cuben (or silynylon) floor sewn into a netting perimeter made more sense. It is a more costly alternative especially if I go cuben with the flooring too. In the end, it made more sense for my needs but YMMV.

We each have our specific wants and can-not-haves. I do like the idea of the netting sewn in an inch or two from the edge. It would create an awning effect and help to shed water from the netting area.